For example, when Tiger Woods’ infidelity scandal was front page news, everyone weighed in on it including The Huffington Post.  The headline of their article, Susie Ogren: Tiger Woods Took Ecstasy, Hoped To ‘Get Me Into Bed‘  was enough to make anyone click and read – I did.  Once reading I discovered there wasn’t much fact to this supposed fiction.  In fact, the article was written by The National Enquirer.  In fact, Susie Ogren and Tiger Woods didn’t have sex.  In fact, the reporter searched Facebook to find a photo of Susie Ogren and posted the photo in the article.  In fact, they weren’t even sure it was Susie’s Facebook photo they posted.

After posting the photo, they were careful not to ‘mislead’ the reader by saying:

A Facebook search for Susie Ogren, meanwhile, produces a profile that may belong to the woman who says she took ecstasy with Tiger Woods in 1999. According to a Google search, the profile belongs to someone claiming to be in Las Vegas. In addition to sharing the same name and city, the profile picture appears to resemble the photo from the Enquirer, given that the two pictures were presumably taken approximately a decade apart. Again, though, it is not a certainty that the Facebook profile below belongs to the same woman who claims to share a history with Woods.

This is journalism?  We all know NOTHING gets erased from the web ever, ever, never, ever.  So if this photo is really a photo of another woman – it doesn’t matter, because from now until eternity on the indelible web, her photo will be linked to Susie Ogren.

Am I the only one who is shaking my head, and tsk, tsking?  Am I the only one just a tad outraged?

By the way, I purposely didn’t link to the article, because I would be one more person spreading a photo around that was in question.

What’s right with this picture?
This is the obvious next step in the evolution of using technology to your advantage.  News organizations can now present stories they wouldn’t have had the resources to cover themselves.  It allows them to get breaking news the millisecond it happens without ever sending a reporter or crew to the scene.

What’s wrong with this picture?
If you know me you know I’m not enamored with the news media in general.  You’ll know that I don’t think we receive fair and balanced or even accurate reporting from many ‘respected’ outlets.  You’ll know that news journalist often misquote their sources, and that the more horrifying the headline the better.  What passes for news today in the alphabet soup of 24 hour news stations like CNN, FOX, and MSNBC,  straddles a very thin line between fact and  the ‘host’s’ viewpoint. This is not news; this is cooking up the news.  Its opinion wrapped in a fact or two, with a dash of hubris, a sprinkling of humor, and a smidge of weightiness thrown in for credibility.  Citizen journalist is just the very next step in the evolution of 24 hour news coupled with 21st century technology.

However, I believe citizen journalists may take a step that many journalists wouldn’t– and that’s ‘creating’ the news.  Do I need to remind you of the Balloon Boy fiasco?  His alleged disappearance spread on Twitter faster than you could type 140 characters.  Most people just hit the retweet button.  It was ‘news’ that was spread to hundreds of thousands of people before anyone realized it was TOTALLY MADE UP.   It’s sad, but people do want their fifteen minutes and they want to be heard.  Millions of blogs are proof of that.

As citizen journalists enter the lexicon of our ever increasing all media world – what can we count on to be true?  Considering how far we’ve come from the Walter Cronkite days – how far will we go?  Will we each have our own channel as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook merge?  Will our channels have news we create?  Will I be able to friend someone half way around the world and get their viewpoint of the news, news that is happening in their country?  If so, then we’re creating a world where the news is all about someone’s viewpoint and opinion and not about facts.

We all have opinions, and some of us even have cameras.  It’s a perfect combination for home grown news.  Welcome to the 21st century Citizen Journalist.

What’s your thought?  How do we keep the news from becoming a potpourri of individual opinions? And do you want to?